In the early morning hours of April 20, 2017, the life of Max Antoine, a 34-year-old Black male from Stamford, Connecticut, was tragically cut short in downtown Bridgeport. He had been attending a party at Tiago's Bar and Grill on State Street. As he left the restaurant with another man shortly after 12:30 a.m., a car approached them. Multiple gunshots were fired from the vehicle.
Struck in the chest, arm, and leg, Antoine managed to stagger onto McLevy Green, where he collapsed and died at the scene. He was a father to two teenage daughters and a son.
For years, the case remained a painful, unsolved mystery for his grieving family, who believed him to be an innocent bystander. His mother, Mary Antoine, and brother, Wilner Joseph, publicly mourned and advocated for justice, drawing attention to the scourge of gun violence. The investigation carried on, but with no immediate arrests, the hope for answers began to fade. The family's persistence, however, kept a spotlight on the cold case.
A significant breakthrough came in December 2021 when a witness finally came forward with crucial information. This new testimony directly implicated Shardel Ragin, a Bridgeport man. The witness claimed to have been with Ragin on the night of the shooting, stating that Ragin waited in his car with a gun in his lap, determined to get revenge for a prior shooting in 2016 that had involved himself and his wife. Based on this and other evidence gathered by the Bridgeport Police Department's cold case unit, Shardel Ragin was arrested in April 2022.
In May 2024, seven years after Max Antoine's death, his family finally saw a measure of justice. Following a two-week trial, a jury found Shardel Ragin, then 36, guilty of murder and criminal possession of a firearm. The verdict brought a wave of emotion to the courtroom, with Antoine's family and friends expressing relief that their long fight had resulted in a conviction. Ragin now faces a sentence of up to 70 years in prison.
